Improvement in tobacco-dressing machines



Parana @einen HENRY SUGGETT, OF NEW YORIQ'N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN TOBACCO-DRESSING MACHINES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. l32,935, dated ovember1Q, 1872.

To all whom 'tt may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY SUGGETT, of New York city, in the State of NewYork, have invented a certain Improvement in Apparatus for DressingTobacco and analogous uses, of which the following is a specification:

The tobacco, after being moistened and otherwise treated to prepare itfor the cutting machinery, and being cut into what is known as fine-cuttobacco, requires to be loosened up and partially dried. This operation,technically known as dressing, has been usually performed by hand, andrequires a peculiarly dely icate manipulation.

I have devised mechanism for giving the proper loosening motion, andhave arranged it in connection with apparatus for blowing through itwith warm air for a period, and afterward with cold air. The result is arapid and successful dressing of the peculiarly sensitive material, anda certainty that the drying operation is stopped and the materialthoroughly cooled at the right point.

The following is a description of what I consider the best means ofcarrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawing forms a part of this specification.

Figure l is an end elevation of the machinery, with the adjacentair-passages and valves-a portion is broken away to show the work in theinterior; Fig. 2 1s a vertical section; Fig. 8 is a plan view; and Fig.4, a horizontal section.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the iigures.

A is a rigid casin g, which forms the framework for the mechanism. Bis ashaft, receiving a rapid rotary motion from a steam-engine or othermeans not represented. Two pitmen, C, connected to crank-pins b on theshaft, give a rapid vertcally-reciprocating motion to a frame, D, whichruns in guides in the interior ofthe casing A and carries a wire workplatform or sieve, d, on which the tobacco is placed to be treated. Themechanism is stopped for the introduction of the tobacco, and, afterplacing a suitable quantity lightly on the sieve d, a cover, A1, iscaused to close the top of the apparatus, and the mechanism is started.At the same time that the agitation is applied by the means oftherapidly-reciprocating sieve d a current of warm air, which may be heatedas high as 2000 Fahrenheit without injury, is blown upward through thesieve d, and through the mass of tobacco which is shaken thereon. Thewarm air is driven from an airheating furnace, of any ordinary orsuitable construction, through the pipe E, and enters a box or casing,E1,which distributes it through the pipes or extensions of thecasing,marked E2, so as to introduce it from each end simultaneously, and toinduce a very equable flow of the drying air upward through theapparatus. In order to still further soften or diffuse the iniuence ofthis current, as also to provide properly for disposing of the dust andtoo iine material, which is liable to sift down from the tobacco duringthe treatment, I provide a double-inclined open-work casing, which maybeof perforated sheet metal, arranged as indicated by G1 G2. Theseperforated sheets, with al suitable bottom, G3, form a triangularcasing, from which the air is distributed equably upward to the sieve,and defleet away the fine material falling thereon, allowing it to lodgein a quiet place below, from which it may be removed at intervals. E3 isa removable cap,on removing which the air is allowed to escape freelyinto the room. It allows the inspection of the interior of thetriangular casing G1 G2, &c., and the removal of any fine material whichmay'occasionally nd access through the perforations. A convenient meansof removing such light material is to blow strongly, by means of theapparatus, into the opposite end of the casing. The blast of air, underthese conditions, blows out strongly through the opening at E3 andremoves any accumulation of solid matter.

I propose to employ any ordinary or suitable means of economizing theheat and modifying the condition of the air so as to favorably affectits action.

In' the apparatus represented,H is a casing exterior to the casing A,and communicating. -therewith at the top, through which the warm air,after its upward-passage through the tobacco, is led downward anddischarged through a pipe, H', back again into the vicinity oftheair-warming apparatus, to be again warmed and returned. I providepockets, in which any dust which passes out with the air is a1- lowed torest and be removed at intervals, one

of which is represented at the base of the casing H. I prevent theescape of any considerable quantity of the shorts or iine solid matterwith the air by interposing a Wire-gauze screen between the casings Aand H, as indicated by h, Fig. 4. Under ordinary conditions the singlepocket in the base of the casing H will suffice to practically receiveall the fine dust that passes this efficient strainer.

It is usual in what is termed the casing7 of tobacco, which is one ofthe preliminary treatments, to add about twenty-ve per cent. ofmoisture. In the dressing operation proper or loosening of the material,about this amount may be assumed to be retained. About fourfifths ofthis should be driven out in the drying operation, and it is veryimportant that it be expelled by a moderate heat and very uniformly, andthat the drying be arrested at exactly the right point.

K is a pipe leading from a blower, not represented, and adapted todeliver cold air in a steady or strong current into the casing G. Afterthe tobacco has been dressed and treated with the warm air to dry ituntil the operation is nearly completed the blower is set in operation,or, what is the same, a valve is opened and cold air is allowed to enterthrough the pipe K. The warm air is still allowed access through thepassages E El, Src., to act in combination with the cold air for a briefperiod, after which the warm-air passage is closed by shutting a valve,e, and the coldlair is allowed to act alone until the material isthoroughly cooled, after which the mechanism is stopped, the cover A1removed, and the completely-finished tobacco is carefully lifted out,its place supplied by another batch of material, and the round ofoperations repeated.

It may be useful under some conditions to supply blowing means to inducea proper movement of the warm air. However the circulation of the warmair be induced, I esteem it important that it be gentle and continuous.A too strong blast would be likely to too greatly derange the positionof the finely-cut and light strips of the tobacco-leaf. With the gentlemotion of the Warm air, which my experiments have realized, the finescreen h remains unelogged, and the tobacco is freed to a moderateextent of the shorts which are incorp orated amongthe longer strips.

I have made the apparatus with the sieve d about three feet long and twofeet wide, and have given it a Vertical reciprocating motion of sixinches, giving the shaft B a speed of two hundred revolutions perminute.

I warm the air for the drying operation to .about 1800 Fahrenheit, orfrom that to 200O Fahrenheit. I treat the material with this Warm airalone about two and a quarter minutes; then treat it with both warm andcold about thirty seconds; and then with cold air alone from one totwominutes. This latter period, as also the duration of all the others,depends partly on the quality and condition of the tobacco and partly onthe temperature and moisture of the atmosphere at the time the operationis conducted.

I use the single letter G to indicate the en- 'tire triangular casingG1, &c. It will be understood that the lower side is tight, and that theupper inclined sides, being perforated and close to the sieve,distribute the air with a uniformity which cannot be attained by anyscreen placed further back.

Instead of putting the material in and taking it out through the top A1of the casing A, it may be desirable, and I prefer in most cases, totake it out through the side or front of the casing. The door A2 isprovided for this purpose, and it is of suflicient size and the partsare so arranged that the entire sieve d may be drawn out with thedressed material reposing thereon, and returned with a proper batch offresh material. The door A2 being closed again the apparatus is readyfor action.

It is well to give a slower reciprocating motion to the sieve d` duringthe treatment with the coldair-say about one hundred reciprocations perminute, or one half as fast as when treated with hot air. The blowing ofthe cold air through the apparatus of course lowers the temperaturenotonly of the tobacco, but of the entire interior surfaces. So soon as thesieve d with its load is withdrawn the warm air should be turned onagain. During the period while the tobacco is carefully removed from thesieve and a fresh batch properly distributed, the interior of theapparatus is becoming again warmed to the proper temperature. I preferthat something like one minute shall be thus consumed in warming theinterior before the fresh batch is introduced.

In practice there may be two sieves, d, for each machine, and one may beprepared with a fresh load while the other is being agitated in themachine.

I apply the term box to an interior casing having four sides marked Df,which moves up and down rapidly with the sieve d and its connections.The side adjacent to the casing H is sufficiently low to leave thescreen on that side always uncovered. The opposite side and ends may behigher. To prevent the shorts from passing out over the ends I stretchcanvas F up and down, which wrinkles as the box D rises and straightensout into a plane or nearly plane condition as the box descends.

One or more thermometers should be mounted in proper positions, the bulbof each being inside and the scale outside, to afford a ready means ofdetermining the temperature obtaining at diierent periodsv in theinterior.

I claim as my inventionn 1. The vertically-reciprocating sieve or perforated platform operatin g within inclosin g walls, in combination withmeans for inducing a current of warm air through the same and throughthe material lying thereon, adapted to serve as herein specified.

2. In combination with the sieve d and casing A, the air-strainer h, andpassage H H for the purpose of conducting the air back to thewarming-furnace to be again reused in the apparatus, substantially asherein specified.

3. The inclined perforated surfaces G1 arranged relatively to theblowing means and to the sieve d and its connections, as specified.

4. The method of dressing and drying tobacco by agitating it upon aperforated platform and forcing through the interstices, first, warm airat a temperature adapted to dry efficiently, then a mixture of warm andcold air, or air at a cooler temperature so as to gradually mellow thematerial, and afterward cold air so as to rapidly cool it, allsubstantially as herein set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of April,1872, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY SUGGETT.

Witnesses ARNOLD HRMANN, WM. C. DEY.

